Hello, Abiliteers! I’m back with another exposé of pokériffic proportions! Since the debut of this article, we’ve talked a lot about Abilities that are activated an influenced by weather effects on the battlefield… but what about Abilities that create weather? Yes, folks, it’s finally time. Wil’s covering auto-weather. This is Ability of the Week: Drizzle, Drought, Sand Stream AND Snow Warning!

Auto-weather has been a presence in the Pokémon games since generation three, where Sand Stream, Drought, and Drizzle made their grand entry. In those games, though, they were highly difficult to find, as they were found exclusively on either legendary pokémon or Tyranitar. Then in generation four, Snow Warning was introduced and an extra user of Sand Stream, Hippowdon, would join the auto-weather party. Today with generation five in the driver’s seat, the Dream World has granted two more monsters with Drought and Drizzle. The pokémon that can use these Abilities are Kyogre, Politoed, Groudon, Ninetails’ evolutionary line, Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and the Abomasnow line.

The effects of all four of these Abilities are essentially the same. On the turn a monster with the Ability is summoned to battle, the corresponding weather effect is unleashed on the field. Unlike Rain Dance or Sandstorm, though, the auto-weather-created climate change won’t dissipate after three to five turns, but will stay active until it’s either replaced by another weather effect, or neutralized by Air Lock or Cloud Nine. Drizzle will summon rain to the battlefield, while Drought will make the sunlight strong. Sand Stream kicks up a sandstorm and Snow Warning causes the hail to fall thick and fast.

As we all already know, the true strength of the auto-weather Abilities is that they allow perpetual use of other weather-driven Abilities like Snow Cloak, Dry Skin, Sand Force, etc, or the bonuses they grant to certain moves or types of pokémon. With Snow Warning in play, Abomasnow’s Blizzard will never miss. An Electric-type will be right at home in a doubles match with a Politoed partner, thanks to Thunder’s 100% accuracy in the rain. Sand Stream functions as a built-in security system for Tyranitar, because Rock-type pokémon enjoy a 50% increase to their Special Defense in a sandstorm. It goes without saying, too, that Ninetails can repeatedly pummel its opponents with Solar Beams if its Drought is active.

There’s not much more to say in regard to the auto-weather Abilities, as there’s not much to them and they’re already widely known despite the short list of possible users. So, that does it for me! Have a week, trainers!

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